Creating Transaction Monitors in Chrome

Last modified on March 19, 2018

Transaction monitors simulate a user’s path through a website, such as buying something, logging in, or searching a website. You create transactions by recording actions in Firefox or Chrome using AlertSite script recorder, DéjàClick. DéjàClick is a free browser extension that automatically records and plays back user action, with no programming needed.

In this tutorial, we will use the Chrome browser to create a transaction monitor for Amazon.com. The monitor will search Amazon for Star Wars and verify that the search results contain the film Star Wars: A New Hope.

1. Start the Transaction Recorder

On the Dashboard, hover over + Add New, select Monitor, and then Web.

Under Record Browser Transaction, click Record and Monitor.

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If you do not have the DéjàClick extension installed, the button will say Download and Monitor – click it to install DéjàClick.

After you click Download and Monitor, you will be prompted to install the DéjàClick extension for Chrome – click Add extension.

After DéjàClick is installed, you will see the icon on the Chrome toolbar:

Enter a name for the monitor.

If you have several AlertSite plans, select the plan you want to use for this monitor.

Select the browser that will be used to run the transaction at the monitoring locations – Chrome, Firefox, or Internet Explorer. You may want to use a specific browser if your website is designed or optimized for that browser.

Click Start Recording Now. The DéjàClick window will appear to the left of the Chrome window.

2. Record a Transaction

On the DéjàClick toolbar, click Configure Options and select Simulate New Visitor. This will adjust the recorder settings to simulate visiting a website for the first time to avoid caching issues.

Click Begin recording.

Open the starting page of the transaction and do what a typical user would do – click the links, fill in forms, and so on.

In this tutorial, we will search for Star Wars on Amazon:

Navigate to amazon.com.

Enter star wars into Amazon’s search box and press ENTER.

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3. Create a Keyword Validation

To make sure your web pages contain correct content, you can add keyword validations to your transaction. For example, if you log into an application as TestUser, you expect Hello TestUser appear on the page, and if it is not there, the application is not working properly.

Let’s create a keyword validation:

On the DéjàClick toolbar, click and select Add keyword validations.

DéjàClick switches into the keyword selection mode. As you move the mouse pointer over the page, DéjàClick automatically suggests the text under the pointer as a keyword.

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Click the text "Star Wars: A New Hope" to create a keyword validation for it.

In the dialog that appears, review the keyword and click OK.

You can repeat steps 2-3 to add validations for other phrases on the page.

To exit the keyword selection mode, click on the DéjàClick toolbar again.

The transaction is now configured to raise an error if the text does not appear on the page.

4. Finish Recording

Click Stop recording on the DéjàClick toolbar. You will see a message with the number of recorded events.

For now, the transaction is temporarily stored on your computer. We need to upload it to AlertSite so that the transaction will run from the global monitoring locations. We will do this later in this tutorial.

5. View the Recorded Transaction

All recorded user actions appear in the DéjàClick window to the left of the Chrome window. Pages with keyword validations are marked with the icon. On the Properties tab, you can review event and playback parameters.

6. Verify Transaction on the Desktop

Before uploading the recorded transaction to AlertSite, you need to replay it locally to make sure it works correctly:

Click Replay on the DéjàClick toolbar.

DéjàClick will repeat the recorded actions in the browser.

If you see a message about page content timeout, click Skip to Next Event, and DéjàClick will automatically adjust the timeout.

When the replay is complete, the results appear in the Results tab in DéjàClick.

If there was an error, try re-recording the transaction or try adjusting playback parameters on the Properties tab. For troubleshooting tips, see DéjàClick Troubleshooting Guide.

7. Upload Transaction to AlertSite

After the local replay completes successfully, you can upload the transaction to AlertSite. To do this:

Click the Remote Services button on the DéjàClick toolbar.

You will see a confirmation that the transaction has been uploaded to your AlertSite account.

You will be redirected back to AlertSite, where you will see the monitor settings.

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Set Run interval to how often you want to run the transaction. The default is 5 minutes.

Switch to the Locations tab and select the locations from which you want the monitor to run.